The variations proposed by the French Ministry of Culture are teaching aids. They are designed to form a didactic tool allowing each teacher to transmit dances in the context of a choreographic culture.

We strongly recommend that teachers consult the enclosed leaflet, which presents for each variation a biographical note of the choreographers and musicians as well as comments on each dance.

The end of cycle 1 and 2 variations can be technically adapted by teachers, who have excellent knowledge of their students and are seeking for them the most appropriate physical commitment. The variations for end of cycle 3, DNOP (national diploma of professional orientation) in dance, Bac TMD (Baccalauréat in music and dance techniques) with dance option, EAT (French technical capability examinations), are extracts from repertoires and, as such, must respect the artistic writing. Moreover, some variations can be danced both by boys and girls, according to the choice of the student, candidate or teacher. 

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The American, Patricia Greenwood Karagozian began her career in the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. With the Civic Light Opera of Pittsburgh, she danced and performed in eighteen musical comedies, including West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, My Fair Lady, Brigadoon and Applause.

Having obtained a “Certificat d'Aptitude” (French artistic education diploma) in jazz dance in 1994, she worked for the French State Diploma in several private centres and Cefedems and for the Certificat d'Aptitude at the CND and at the CNSMD in Lyon. In 2003, she was awarded a Professional Degree in Functional Analysis of the Body in the Danced Movement. She was a co-author of the pedagogical guide “Enseigner la Danse Jazz” (Teaching Jazz dance), published by the CND in 2007.

She choreographed the jazz part of the “Cygne, etc.”, a solo written for Pedro Pauwels in 2000, West Side Story (2000) and Cats (2004) which were performed at the Théâtre du Châtelet. Focusing on improvisation and on the music-dance relationship, she has improvised in concert in various jazz festivals with Philippe la Carrière, Benoît Sourisse, Olivier Temine, etc.

Since 2006, Patricia Greenwood Karagozian has been the Chair of the CodaJazz Association, whose aim is to promote and support the quality and acknowledgement of jazz dance in France.

In 2011, she created the PGK Company to promote choreographic activity in a medium of jazz expression.

Updated: June 2012

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Director of the production company La Huit since 1990, Gilles Le Mao has produced and directed, on behalf of the General Delegation of Artistic Creation, more than 300 variations of “Dance Events” since 1996.

 Executive producer of some 400 audiovisual and cinema programs at La Huit, he also carries out major interviews on personalities from ethnology, architecture, landscape and art history with the Ministry of Culture. 2009 World Music Favorite Prize from the Charles Cros Academy for the film “The Drums of Tokyo”, he has produced around fifty documented concerts on jazz, world music and classical music since 1999.

 He has also been a member of various selective cinema commissions since 2009 at the CNC and in the Limousin, Normandy and Grand-Est regions. Since 1995, he has worked with the Ministry of Culture - Drac Ile de France in high school and BTS cinema and production section.

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